Friday, May 08, 2009

Power, faith and fantasy

Michael Oren, author of the excellent history of "America in the Middle East, 1776 to the present," entitled "Power, faith and fantasy" is about to have some adventures of his own. He has just been appointed Israeli Ambassador to the US, the plum of all Israeli diplomatic positions. From some points of view Oren is a natural choice for Netanyahu.
There were other alternatives, primarily Dore Gold, who has been Israeli Ambassador to the UN, and seemed a natural choice because of his right-wing credentials. But he is a less attractive figure than Oren, and he is somewhat dour and distant.
Oren is not only an expert on US-Israel relations, having studied this topic academically in Columbia and Princeton and taught at Harvard and Yale, but he grew up in New Jersey. And he also graduated from the IDF paratroops college and is an Israeli citizen and is about to give up his American citizenship in order to represent a "foreign country" in the USA. He also wrote an excellent account of the Six Day War of 1967 entitled "Six Days of War." He is a member of a right wing think-tank in Israel called the Shalem Center.
But, there are some drawbacks to his appointment. First, he has no diplomatic experience and has never held Government office. Now the same could be said of Avigdor Lieberman, but he seems to be doing his thing as FM in Europe. By the way, the choice of Oren had to be approved by Lieberman as well as Netanyahu.
Also, another major potential problem is that Oren was an enthusiastic supporter of the "disengagement" from Gaza and also has gone on record as approving a similar disengagement or withdrawal from the West Bank. Now this is a far more serious policy difference with the current Government, since that was Sharon's policy that was taken by him into the Kadima Party, and has been the policy of PM Olmert and Tzipi Livni who is now the leader of the Opposition. So some right wing supporters of Netanyahu are up in arms about this choice.
However, on the other hand, a diplomat, whatever his views is supposed to represent his Government, and since Netanyahu knows Oren quite well, there is no doubt that Oren will be doing this.
Another positive feature of Oren is that not only is he American-born and can speak in the authentic accent of a native New Jerseyite, but being very knowledgeable on the history and politics of the Middle East, he should have a positive impact on the media and image of Israel in the US.

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